A GoUpstate Blog

Culture Aplenty is social comment and awareness about all things artsy and culturally interesting in Sparkle City

What do people think about when you mention kites? Most people think of the Charlie Brown diamond design in a solid red, blue, green, or yellow. My first experience with kites was with this type, and I never considered them art when I flew them. I liked the pull of the kite on the line and having some control over it. I also liked being outdoors. A few years later I had the experience with a different design called a… Read More »

So You Think You Can Dance has been my favorite program ever since it first began in 2005. I am addicted to it and have been known to drop everything to watch. From the first auditions to the walk down the Green Mile to the Finale, I am hooked. Why?, you may ask… Well, as most folks around here know, dance is my thing. It has been ever since I can remember. I know I have told many people that… Read More »

As an African American born and raised in South Carolina I have had very little known contact with the Ku Klux Klan. There had been racial violence in the Upstate in the late 1960s and 1970s including a race riot at Gaffney High School.… Read More »

I’m a fade-away-silently-in-the-night kind of person. I avoid having to say “goodbye” at all costs. Sometimes I won’t even wave, nod, or give the see-you-later glance to someone from across the room. I just can’t make myself do it. With that being said, by the time you read this, I won’t be a part of the Chapman Cultural Center (CCC) team anymore. (Pro tip: scheduling a farewell blog post for after you’re already gone is a great way of avoiding… Read More »

So every child may be an artist and have creative thoughts, but executing those thoughts may take some effort over time. The artists that follow their impulse to create, in whatever medium, will surely be drawn to the knowledge available to them.… Read More »

I have been a fan of bluegrass music for most of my adult life. When I was younger, I didn’t question why I enjoyed the music; I just did. But being a child of the disco era, I didn’t always let my friends know I liked bluegrass because, at the time, it was not cool. It wasn’t until many years later when I questioned my own taste in music that I came to really appreciate why bluegrass is part of my southern heritage.… Read More »

Students need to focus on asking questions, developing hypotheses, testing models, making evidence-based arguments and learning other skills that real scientists use all of the time. Where are they going to get these skills? Telling them will not work.… Read More »

As with so many things, it’s the effort and the expense that we invest in art that shows its value. We travel to see art that we’ve built buildings to showcase. We pay for tickets. We buy art and books and music. We buy supplies to create art. We take classes. We donate to arts organizations. We retire, and we take up art. We tune in, we watch, we share the experience.… Read More »

When I first moved to town thirty years ago, I often heard that “all roads lead to Spartanburg.” That statement, I’ve learned, had very little to do with our geographically strategic position at the crossroads of two major interstate highways and everything to do with the very nature of this community and its people—native-born, passers-though, newcomers, and longtime fixtures alike. Spartanburg-ers tend to love where they live—or lived, whether as a child, as a college student, or as a captain of industry. That’s the rest of the story.… Read More »

About This Blog

The story behind the story: it’s often the most intriguing aspect of a slice of history or current event. Longtime radio host Paul Harvey built a successful broadcast career proving the point. And “the rest of the story” is always enhanced by a hometown hook—the interesting or unexpected angle that connects the universal to the personal, the bit that makes national news decidedly local. The NFL’s fiftieth Super Bowl is a big piece of news no matter where you live in this country. But how much more resonant that story is to us in Spartanburg, where Jerry Richardson has built successful businesses, transformed colleges through unprecedented generosity, and created a summer home for his Carolina Panthers.

Jan Postma, CFO of the MoMA in New York

This week, the Johnson Collection is hosting its third annual “Voices in American Art” lecture, a program that brings national arts leaders to town to speak on the subject of American art. Our previous speakers include a Corcoran curator and the editor of the country’s oldest arts magazine—experts and tastemakers who, in the midst of teaching us something, cultivated an appreciation of this community. Our 2016 guests—Jan Postma, Chief Financial Officer of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and Jane Panetta, Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art—won’t need to hear the Chamber of Commerce-esque spiel about Spartanburg’s attributes: they know us well.

The event represents a homecoming of sorts for Postma and his wife, Ms. Panetta. The son of Jan and Sara Lynn Postma, Jan grew up on Spartanburg’s east side. A 1995 graduate of Spartanburg High School, he describes his teachers there as having prepared him “extremely well for the rigor and critical thinking of college.” He also recalls the “diversity of our high school” as “culturally rewarding” and hopes that it “is something valued by students today, particularly given the issues our nation is clearly still grappling with at this time.” Jan left the South to attend Williams College in Massachusetts, where he studied economics, and later received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Before joining the museum staff, he worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch. He was named MoMA’s CFO in 2008, a high honor for someone well under the age of forty. The art world brought him into contact with his future wife, Jane Panetta, an equally accomplished rising star in those same circles. Ms. Panetta’s most recent project has attracted global attention: she was an integral member of the curatorial team for America is Hard to See, the inaugural exhibition at the Whitney Museum’s groundbreaking new facility in New York’s Meatpacking district.

Jane Panetta, Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York

It’s nice to have friends in high places, and Jan’s loyalty to his hometown has helped Spartanburg’s cultural advancement in a way few people know. He’s the first to downplay the part he played—“It was just an e-mail,” he says. But that e-mail made us aware of an opportunity we may not have had otherwise. In the midst of early conversations about Jan and Jane’s participation with “Voices in American Art” back in the fall of 2014, Jan happened to forward me an e-mail announcement. The mass mailing was an invitation for communities to apply for a $1 million grant, a new Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative aimed at supporting temporary public art projects. His message said he thought it might be of interest given the remarkable efforts being made in the arts in downtown Spartanburg. I immediately thanked Jan and advanced the announcement to Jennifer Evins, CEO of the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg. As the community’s best arts advocate and a person who knows how to make things happen, Jennifer took the proverbial ball and ran with it. As one of the four recipients nationwide to receive the Bloomberg award, come August, we’ll all have the opportunity to “see Spartanburg in a new light,” as borne out in stunning light displays installed in neighborhoods around the city.

When I first moved to town thirty years ago, I often heard that “all roads lead to Spartanburg.” That statement, I’ve learned, had very little to do with our geographically strategic position at the crossroads of two major interstate highways and everything to do with the very nature of this community and its people—native-born, passers-though, newcomers, and longtime fixtures alike. Spartanburg-ers tend to love where they live—or lived, whether as a child, as a college student, or as a captain of industry. That’s the rest of the story.

Lynne Blackman, Public Relations and Publications Coordinator for The Johnson Collection in Spartanburg

Please join us at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 4, at Chapman Cultural Center for Voices in American Art, featuring keynote speakers Jan Postma and Jane Panetta. No tickets are required for the free, hour-long event, which will be followed by a reception. For more information, please visit thejohnsoncollection.org.

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Lynne Blackman is the public relations and publications coordinator for the Johnson Collection, a private art collection focused on art of the American South. Over the past twenty years, she has served as a writer and editor of fine art books and catalogues for galleries and museums, including the Charleston Renaissance Gallery, Hollis Taggart Galleries, and the Johnson Collection. The collection’s latest publication, Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection, was released in November 2015 and is available for sale at bookstores and online retailers.